


The Start of Something New

by bettycooperthefirst



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 21:42:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14777750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettycooperthefirst/pseuds/bettycooperthefirst
Summary: Jughead Jones hates going to parties, but when Betty Cooper stumbles into his hideaway from the noise, his mind just might change.





	The Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this awhile back, before I had an ao3. It didn't have a title then but I feel like this one fits :)  
> It was also written before the infamous "stay" line so it's funny to me that I have that in here

**8:51 PM**

Betty Cooper looked in the mirror at her perfectly adjusted ponytail. Christmas had come and gone, with all the same traditions: making Christmas cookies with her mom in their pristine kitchen, a present exchange with her best friends Veronica and Kevin, giant mugs of hot chocolate by the fire with her sister Polly on Christmas Eve. It was all so wonderful, but somehow, Betty felt like she’d been running the same path her entire life, never taking a single detour, always afraid to take a wrong step.

And god dammit, she was sick of it.

That’s why she was sitting here now, staring at herself in her picture perfect vanity mirror, thinking that maybe, tonight, it was time for something new. Veronica had started dating a new guy named Archie, and he had invited all of them to a New Year’s Eve party at his friend Reggie’s house. This was entirely out of place with their normal New Year’s Eve plans, and Betty had decided to take this as a sign. So, with the inexplicable feeling that something amazing was on the verge of happening, she shook her hair from her prim and proper ponytail and stood up.

**10:34 PM**

Jughead Jones hated parties. No matter what the occasion was, birthday, graduation, “my parents are away for the weekend!” he never wanted to be there. But somehow he always came.

There were two reasons for this: 1.) he loved his friends and they loved parties and 2.) he had a failsafe system worked out. He would arrive at the party fashionably late, make sure to say hello to the host (usually Reggie, or god forbid Cheryl Blossom) hangout with Archie for a few minutes, and then disappear into the crowd, showing up again once or twice later in the night when everyone was already drunk.

When he was at Cheryl’s house, it was easy to go hangout in one of the million of random rooms that weren’t being used for a hook up, but at Reggie’s the choices were a lot more limited. The only room in the house that no one went into was Reggie’s dads study, because he always kept it locked.

It was a good thing Jughead was an experienced lock picker. All he had to do was sneak in and pull a book out of his bag, and he could enjoy the rest of his night in peace, and tonight was no exception. New Years was just an excuse for people to say they were going to change and find someone to assault at midnight. He had already checked in with Archie twice and the party was well underway.

Nothing was going to make Jughead move an inch until it was time to go home.

**10:35 PM**

This wasn’t going the way Betty had envisioned. 10 minutes after arriving at the party, some red headed girl had bumped into her in the kitchen and made a scene of telling her to watch where she was going, all while everyone there looked on in amusement. About 20 minutes ago, she had lost Kevin and Veronica and had yet to find them. And about 15 seconds ago a boy in a letterman jacket had spilled his beer in her hair, drenching her on one side. Better yet, he didn’t acknowledge that he did it.

So yeah, Betty needed a minute to herself before she went into an anxiety attack in front of approximately 200 of her peers. And this room in the back of the house that no one seemed to be trying to have sex in seemed like the perfect place to go. The door might have been locked, but that’s what Bettys Nancy Drew studies had gotten her: a flawless way into any locked room. Only problem? When she entered, she immediately realized that she wasn’t alone.

A dark haired boy sat in a chair in the corner, with a beanie and a dark jacket and before she could turn and run, he looked up at her. She froze: she knew she looked like a complete mess and from the way this party had been going she wouldn’t be surprised if he called her on it.

“I hope you don’t have some horny guy following you in here because I already claimed the space and I’m not moving.”

“Uh.. no. I just..wanted to get out of the crowd for a minute, I’ll find somewhere else.” She turned to go.

“There is nowhere else.” He paused, seeming to consider her. “Don’t worry about it. I know what it’s like to want to get out of there. Stay.” And then he smiled at her, and she realized that the beanie wearing boy wasn’t as scary as he seemed… his smile was actually quite charming.

“I know these chairs look hard as rocks, but they’re super cushy. 10/10 would recommend.” He shot another smile her way, and she glanced at the book he was reading.

“Toni Morrison?” And in that moment, she knew this was the right place for her to be.

**11:57 PM**

This girl was incredible. Even though half of her hair was now dried differently from the other, she was beautiful. Her smile actually lit him up inside in a way he’d never experienced before.

When she had seen what he was reading it had been like her nerves immediately melted away, and they’d been talking ever since. And from Bettys side, the feelings were the same. He was the first person in what felt like forever that had seen her in her most imperfect moments and actually seemed to like it. And his eyes were definitely a bonus.

“Almost midnight,” she realized, looking at the grandfather clock in the corner.

“You gonna get out of here as soon as your obligatory party duties are over?” He realized that he could quite possibly never see this girl again, a girl he had enjoyed talking to more than almost anyone he’d ever met. And she wasn’t ready to leave either.

“We’ll see.” She smiled nervously. “I’m having a pretty good time after all.”

“One minute left!” a frat boy style yell echoed through the hall.

“Is it time to make ourselves seen out there in the real world?” She asked, and she wanted him to say no. No Betty, I would rather sit here with you all night than go back into the crowd.

“I guess so,” he responded, standing up. I guess not, she thought. That was never really going to happen, she shouldn’t have even gotten her hopes up.

She pulled her hair back into its usual ponytail to try to make it more presentable. The two walked towards the door slowly, but the more Jughead thought about it, the more he realized that, as scary as it was, this girl was worth putting himself out there for.

Jughead turned to Betty instead of reaching for the handle and the words tumbled out. “Actually Betty, I’ve had a better time talking to you than I think I’ve ever had at one of these parties and I’m not ready to end that yet. As a matter of fact, I’d rather just stay here for the rest of the night, but I’m sure you want to get back to your friends.”

He watched her closely and saw a twinkle in her eye that made his breath catch. “10, 9, 8!!! Woooooooo!” The same voice from the hall proclaimed, and Betty stepped closer to Jughead and his hand went to her neck like the most natural thing he’d ever done.

She smiled bigger than he’d seen her do all night and he leaned down to her lips as the clock struck midnight.

And Betty thought maybe parties weren’t bad at all, not when they resulted in being kissed like this. And Jughead thought for the first time that maybe kissing on New Year’s Eve wasn’t overrated one bit, and he could feel a wonderful sense that something was changing, right here right now, but it had nothing to do with a new year and everything to do with the girl with the ponytail who was smiling through their kiss.


End file.
